Staff Profile – Mark Danley

The USMA Library Staff would like to belatedly welcome Mark Danley, who joined us in August 2015. He serves in the capacity of Cataloging Librarian and has begun additional duties as Library Liaison to the Military History Division of the History Department. He will also become a member of the teaching staff in the Department of History, beginning in fall semester 2016.

Mark grew up in Virginia, and stayed there for his education through his MA degree in History at Virginia Tech. After enlisting in the Army in July 1991, he served as an airborne parachute rigger from March 1992-December 1993. He got his Ph.D. in History at Kansas State, then his MLIS at Louisiana State. He has taught military history in Norwich University’s online graduate program.

Mark is a self-proclaimed “soldier scholar,” incorporating his love for the Army with the study of history, and brings the “Airborne Spirit” into everything he does. His enlistment in the Army–almost 25 years ago–makes West Point’s mission all the more meaningful to him.

When asked what his most challenging experience has ever been, he quickly replied that it was getting through Airborne School. According to Mark, he was not very coordinated back then, so it look him longer than most to learn the necessary skills. However, he was super motivated and had great instructors who took the time to train him.

On the other hand, maybe finishing his Ph.D. was more difficult? He states that every single scholarly work he has ever produced or published has been HARD (note the caps). Mark is a tedious and labor-intensive researcher, a trait which he says is the nature of his specialty. Self-deprecatingly, he states that he is a bad writer, revising numerous times to get his work into an academically publishable form. I seriously doubt that is true, but his refuse-to-give-up attitude has served him well. He has 4 scholarly articles to his credit. He is also a strong contributor to Name Authority Cooperative of Program for Cooperative Cataloging (NACO) and recently gave a presentation on Problems and Solutions in Name Authority Work for Military-Related Materials at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in January, 2016.

In his spare time, Mark likes to work out at a CrossFit gym and practices hot yoga. His following of NCAA football–especially Army and all his Alma Maters–has diminished this past fall due to his move here, but he intends to pick up on that later this year.

Mark’s enthusiasm for librarianship and zeal for the Army will greatly enrich his interactions with our staff and cadets. Welcome, Mark!